Word: pyongyang
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Believe it or not, North Korea has a literary scene, although its indomitable muse is Kim Jong Il, who keeps writers on the national payroll to pen books about himself and who has personally written (according to Pyongyang) a nonfiction work on film and even some poetry. Kim Il Sung, the Dear Leader's father, once dubbed writers "engineers of the human soul"?but he and his son have always had strict control over the project specs...
...These days, however, North Korea's writers are getting a little leeway. Last week, Pyongyang said it would host a meeting of South and North Korean writers, the first such get-together in nearly 60 years. And to the surprise of foreign observers, new topics are appearing in North Korean fiction: poverty, starvation, even the hint that not all officials are paragons of virtue. In 2002, state presses released Hwang Jin Yi, a ribald historical novel by Hong Seok Jung, which will be published in South Korea in September. The heroine is a courtesan who encounters starving masses, corrupt officials...
...least in part?seemed to have paid off. Still left behind, however, was the family of 45-year-old abductee Hitomi Soga: her 64-year-old American husband, Charles Robert Jenkins, and their two daughters, 20-year-old Mika and 18-year-old Belinda. At a press conference in Pyongyang, Koizumi said he spent about an hour trying to persuade Jenkins to get on the plane, but Jenkins resisted because he feared prosecution by the United States...
...Dear Leader eventually allowed the abductees to "visit" Japan?none have chosen to return to North Korea?but he refused to let their spouses and children join them. Last week, Koizumi announced he was going back to Pyongyang for a meeting on May 22 or 23. Some political experts think Koizumi wouldn't risk a return trip if he weren't convinced that behind-the-scenes negotiations have assured him of his Rambo moment?he's going back in and he's bringing them out alive...
...administration is being buffeted by an ever-widening scandal at home. Seven government ministers have admitted to skipping their payments into the national pension scheme, and last week Koizumi himself said he had, at times, failed to make payments before they became mandatory in 1986. A triumph in Pyongyang would be a welcome distraction. The automatic winner in the deal is Kim, who appears to have Japan's leader at his beck and call. But if Koizumi gets the families out, he'll return to a hero's welcome...